Ms Marion Boteju:

I started my statement by stating what a law in Ireland to legalise altruistic surrogacy would lead to. In lieu of the IVF industry, there would be a really strong push towards commercial surrogacy. What we have seen in many other countries is commercial surrogacy being exported to countries where there are no regulations or lax regulations that protect women and their children. In the case of India, a major market for surrogacy was Australia, and there were quite a few Australian heterosexual couples and LGBTQ individuals who were using the market in India as a source of supply of surrogate mothers. What we have seen is a complete breakdown of efforts to move forward on the rights of women in these countries and in developing countries where for generations human rights groups on the left and the right, regardless of their political constitution, have tried to move forward the rights of women to dignified employment and to just participation in the economy. We have seen the deleterious effects on them. There have been several publications in this regard. A clinic in India was highlighted in the media with regard to IVF. There have been instances of clinics in which medical service providers have taken advantage of a market that is readily available. What is happening now is that the market has moved from India to countries such as Mexico and Thailand, where there are no regulations protecting women who would serve as surrogates.

It is not an easy matter to discuss. It is ugly, but it is fact. This is what is happening. In other countries that are considering legislation, albeit not as comprehensive as this Bill, which will attempt to address many issues, there is a concern that legalising surrogacy will cause deleterious effects for women in their own countries in terms of an eventual slippery slope to commercial surrogacy.